Futurology
Futurology
Podcast Description
The future never arrives all at once. It ripples through society long before we know what to call it.
At the Berggruen Institute, we know that we need more than prediction to name what’s next; we need invention. Each week, Institute President Dawn Nakagawa introduces us to scientists and philosophers recalibrating our cosmologies, technologists coming to terms with alien intelligence, and policymakers scrambling to design systems for a world in flux.
Join thinkers and doers from the Berggruen-verse as we imagine a future that we can accomplish together, instead of one that we’re all working to prevent.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
Focuses on futuristic concepts, artificial intelligence, and global governance with episodes exploring the evolution of Mars rovers and the implications of changing political landscapes, emphasizing the need for innovative thinking.
The future never arrives all at once. It ripples through society long before we know what to call it.
At the Berggruen Institute, we know that we need more than prediction to name what’s next; we need invention. Each week, Institute President Dawn Nakagawa introduces us to scientists and philosophers recalibrating our cosmologies, technologists coming to terms with alien intelligence, and policymakers scrambling to design systems for a world in flux.
Join thinkers and doers from the Berggruen-verse as we imagine a future that we can accomplish together, instead of one that we’re all working to prevent.
Democracy counts people, not plants. Humans are only a sliver of life on this planet, but today, we’re the only ones who get a vote. What if we gave rights to rivers and standing to trees?
In this episode, experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats says it’s time to make every species count. The environmental movement has spent decades claiming to speak for the trees. In his new book, “A Field Guide to More-Than-Human Governance,” Keats says we need to recognize that the trees can speak for themselves. He walks us through how we should expand the franchise by tapping the polling systems already in place from peat moss to slime mold and rodents to rhododendrons. Governance for all creatures, great and small.
Subscribe to Futurology on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@Futurologypod
The Futurology Podcast — full episodes on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwkiuf1eRbAAHP4p–2IFJbn0CIdaZMva
Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/futurology/id1821718921
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/2I38HvHP6KlXrD5ysfygxk
Mentioned in this Episode:
A Field Guide to More-Than-Human Governance — Jonathon Keats (Book, 2026) — also asePub
Centuries of the Bristlecone — Jonathon Keats (Artwork, 2026)
Assembly of Trees — Jonathon Keats (Artwork, 2024)
Jargon Watch — Jonathon Keats (Wired column)
A Portent of Climates to Come: On the Telling Rings of the Bristlecone Pine — Grant Slater (Film, 2013)
Should Trees Have Standing? — Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects — Christopher D. Stone (Essay, 1972)
68 Quadrillion Underground Miles of Fungi — Emily Anthes (New York Times, 2026)
Where to find Jonathon Keats:
Berggruen Institute: https://berggruen.org/people/jonathon-keats
Earth Law Center: https://www.earthlawcenter.org/jonathon-keats
“A Field Guide to More-Than-Human Governance” (Berggruen Press, 2026): https://berggruen.org/library/a-field-guide-to-more-than-human-governance
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Credits
Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, & Jason Hoch
Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, & Nathalia Ramos
Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney
Theme Music: Marcus Bagala
Audio Engineer: Kyle Scott Wilson
Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland for the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, California.
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